About Pico Perdomo

Pico Perdomo
"Trainer marches to own drummer; horses love the beat."

by Steve Schuelein.

"What I learned is that observation is the most important thing; you have to keep your eyes and ears open. Charlie Whittingham once said that you don't try to teach anybody anything. That person has to be interested himself. Charlie and Angel Penna aren't going to tell you any thing. You have to watch and learn." - Pico Perdomo
		Pico Perdomo, a former jockey in his native Uruguay was rewarded for his Patience as a trainer with his first Eclipse Award winner Gourmet Girl. - Vaughn Voodling photo.

Any morning at Hollywood Park, you can find the gentle little man in the stable area wearing a hat and dark glasses. While other trainers race feverishly about, Pico Perdomo calmly supervises his barn' aüd strolls unhurriedly to 'the track with his horses. Perdomo, a former jockey in his native Uruguay, marches to his own drummer and his horses love the beat. He speaks with a soft Spanish accent and smiles too often for someone in a sport that is supposedly struggling.

The glass always appears halffull to this eternal optimist. "Life Is Beautiful" for this Roberto Benigni of the backstretch. "I consider myself a lucky guy," said Perdomo, who
turns 60 in July. "I could have been born in Afghanistan or Somalia, but I grew up in Uruguay a good country that never had a war. My father and mother gave me a lot of love. And I have spent my whole life doing something I like to do.

"I get up at 4:30 every morning, and never used an alarm clock in my life", Perdomo said. "I cant wait to get up each morning to see the horses." There is always a song, in his voice, although the lyrics are not always easily distinguishable.

Although most of his horses have had uneventful careers, Perdomo was rewarded for his unwavering patience in February with his first Eclipse Award winner Gourmet Girl, champion older female for 2001.
Perdomo admitted sadness at the retirement of the mare, 7, after five seasons and earnings of $1,255,373. "I delivered her myself to Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky," said Perdomo of a breeding date with Fusaichi Pegasus. "I put her in the stall and said goodbye. It was very dífficult walking away. I kept her stall at Hollywood Park open three days. It was difficult to look at that too." Gourmet Girl, a California-bred by Cee´s Tizzy turned into one of the great bargains of all time.Perdomo bought her at a 1996 Del Mar yearling sale for $3,500.

Explaining the low price, Perdomo said, "Nobody knew about Cee´s Tizzy (the sire of 2000 Horse of the Year Tiznow) yet; it was a very weak sale and she was one of the last horses sold. Not many people were left."
Yet the purchase was not entirely luck. "I saw Cee´s Tizzy win a mile race at Del Mar in very fast time and I ran against him in the 1990 Super Derby with Stalwart Charger" Perdomo said. "Cee´s Tizzy finished third and got hurt and never raced again, but he impressed me, At the time of the auction, I had Candelotto, Gourmet Girl's full brother who I had claimed and liked. I was willing to go to $15,000 to buy her. She looked good, but I never expected anything like this."

By the time Gourmet Girl retired, she recorded three Grade I victories: in the 1999 Milady Breeders' Cup Handicap at Hollywood Park and the 2001 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park and Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park. A model of consistenry she registered nine victories, seven seconds and 10 thirds in 33 starts.
Perdomo initially sold the filly to a partnership headed by Maxine Factor Nazworthy a long-time client who raced under the nom de course Sledge Stable. But after Gourmet Girl concluded her 3-year-old campaign with a victory in theGrade III Bay Meadows Oaks and a runner-up finish in the Grade I La Brea Stakes, she was sold at the beginning of her 4-year-old year to Gary Tanaka through bloodstock agent Franmise Dupuis for a price "in the high six-figure" range.

	Gourmet Girl, the first horse that Perdomo trained for Gary Tanaka, wins the Vanity Handicap, June 30, 2001. - Vaughn Voodling photo.

Gourmet Girl was the first horse Perdomo trained for Tanaka, a prominent owner and London-based investment banker.Perdomo showed his courage early in standing up for what was right for the horse at the risk of losing a coveted new client.

"Manistique was very good in that division then," Perdomo said. "We finished a close second to her in the El Encino Stakes in Gourmet Girl's first start for Mr. Tanaka, but in her next start in the La Canada Stakes, she finished third and did not eat well after.

"When Mr. Tanaka bought her he said his main goal that winter was the Santa Margarita Handicap, but I had to tell him after the La Canada that if she ran it could knock her out for a long rime and convinced him it was in her best interests to back off."
Heeding Perdomo's advice at 4 kept Gourmet Girl around for a championship campaign at 6. After running in the giant shadow of champion Riboletta at 5, Gourmet Girl earned the spotlight for herself the following year after Perdomo added blinkers.

Following a four-length victory in the Apple Blossom in April, Perdomo applied the kid-glove treatment to prepare Gourmet Girl for the Vanity in June. He skipped a prep in the Hawthorne Handicap, claiming
the mare was in heat. Later he passed on a final prep in the Milady after noticing the mare cough.
While skeptics theorized the mare was having too many problems to run well in the Vanity, Perdomo resolutely brought her up to the championship race of the meet in her division on three slow works, by design because the trainer vividly recalled an unwanted fastwork a week before the 1999 Vanity compromised her performance.

	Gary Tanaka, a prominent owner and London-based investment banker is the owner of Gourmet Girl. - Matt Goins photo.

"You can't take a chance with a Grade I horse", Perdomo repeated several times during the weeks leading to the 2001 Vanity. "At that level, there is no room for mistakes."
Perdomo's faith was vindicated when Gourmet Girl romped to a five-length victory in the Vanity and his patience was rewarded several months later when the mare was voted the Eclipse Award."I was so happy for Mr. Tanaka," said Perdomo o£ the honor. "It was his first Eclipse Award, which he deserved so much. He has put a lot of money into the game and lets you do your job."

Before the rise of Gourmet Girl, Perdomo earned headlines in 1990 with the development of stakes winners Stalwart Charger and Rial. Stalwart Charger purchased for $25,000 at a Hollywood Park 2-yearold sale, eamed about $600,000 after a 3-year-old season highlighted by victories in the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields, the Silver Screen (since renamed Affirmed) Handicap at Hollywood Park and the Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicap against older horses.
After the Silver Screen victory, Perdomo charmed the press by saying in his disarming Spanish accent, "I know how to pull the trigger on a bazooka." In other words, good horses make good trainers.

That fall, Argentine import Rial gave Perdomo his first Grade I stakes victory in the Oak Tree Invitational at Santa Anita as a 27-1 long shot. "He came here with a South American trainer and ran once and pulled a muscle in his back," Perdomo explained. "The trainer returned home and left him with me. I sent him to the farm for five months and freshened him up."

Perdomo learned about horses early in his hometown ot Las Piedras, Uruguay, and always wanted to make racing his life. The youngest of three brothers and son of a trainer, Perdomo was nearly prevented from following his dreams because of a family tragedy.

"My two older brothers were jockeys and Abel, the middle brother, died in a spill when he was 14," Perdomo said. "I was 8 and didn't actually see the race, but jockeys did not have helmets and flak jackets then. Today I close my eyes and can still see my brother in the coffin." The oldest brother Alvaro, was already an accomplished jockey but Perdomó s parents did everything possible to steer their youngest son away from the dangers of riding.
At 10, Perdomo was sent to a private school 100 miles away with the intention of getting his mind off horses. "I got very depressed there and ran away to a racetrack five miles away in a city called Florida", Perdomo recalled. "I fell asleep in a stall there, and the people who found me saw how young I was and turned me over to the police, who drove me back to the school.

"Later I ran away again to another track about 40 miles away," Perdomo continued. "A friend of my father recognized me, and when I told him how much I wanted to ride, he talked to him." His parents, resigned to their son's choice, reluctantly took Perdomo back and allowed him to work in the barn until he began riding at 14. Perdomo's first name is Alcides, but he has gone by his middle name since early memory.
"I never cared that much about the barn then: all I wanted to do was ride," Perdomo said before launching a jockey career in Uruguay that would include more than 1,100 victories and the 1962 Uruguayan Triple Crown aboard Loco Loco.

Perdomo, who now stands 5'-5" and weighs about 147 pounds, rode at between 115 and 120 pounds during his career but always had weight problems.
In 1970, tired of battling the scale, Perdomo moved to New York to work for South American trainer Angel Penna. "After three months in New York, Penna moved to France", Perdomo said. "He asked me to go with him, but I had a sister in Los Angeles and came here instead."
Perdomo initially planned on a brief visit and to return to South America where he would try his luck in Argentina, but love intervened. His sister introduced him to his future wife, Estella. They began dating, and Perdomo returned his airline tickets to Argentina.

Now all he needed was a job. Without any contacts or a grasp of the English language, Perdomo took his chances and showed up at Pomona at 5 one morning. Through a Spanish-speaking worker Perdomo
leamed that his boss was looking for someone to break babies.That's how Perdomo met trainer Bobby McRoberts. Between a language barrier and a suspicion of Perdomo's qualifications, McRoberts frowned at hiring the newcomer. "Listen to me," Perdomo told the assistant, who served as an interpreter. "Give me the opportunity, and I will work the first two weeks free. Then, if you don't like my work, let me go."
When the assistant translated Perdomo's offer to McRoberts, the trainer lit up and said, "I like this guy. Give him two bridles and one saddle."
Perdomo capitalized on the opportunity. "I got there every morning at 4 a.m., before everybody," he said. "After four days, the trainer shook my hand and said I had the job."

In the months to follow, Perdomo broke such future stars as Royal Owl at a time when $3 a head seemed like a lot of money. McRoberts offered Perdomo 50 horses to break the following year, but Perdomo, like a student ready to go to the next grade, was itching to work on the racetrack.
Aiming high, Perdomo approached legendary trainer Charlie Whittingham at Santa Anita in 1972. "I introduced myself to Charlie at 4 in the morning, told him about my experience and said I wanted to be a groom", Perdomo said. "I walked to the track with him four or five times.
He said he didn't have anything at Santa Anita, but offered me a job at San Luis Rey Downs. I told him I needed to be here, and he said to come back the next moming.

"When I came back, we started walking, and Charlie suddenly said to another trainer 'Need a groom?' The trainer L.J. Brooks, said yes. He had about 35 horses, and I started with him.
"I learned a lot during the next four months. I stayed in a tack room the whole time. I grew a beard and wore blue jeans and a green Army jacket. I watched to see what the vets gave the horses. One vet said, ´I like you. You ask questions.´"

Perdomo´s natural curiosity was a big reason for his success. "What I learned is that observation is the most important thing; you have to keep your eyes and ears open," Perdomo said. "Charlie Whittingham once said that you don´t try to teach anybody anything. That person has to be interested himself. Charlie and Angel Penna aren´t going to tell you anything. You have to watch and learn." Perdomo felt ready for greater challenges, but with the English language still a headache and his network stagnant, he again got the wanderlust for South America.

	Jetin Excess, on the inside, became one of the leading 2-year-old fillies in the nation in 2000 with victories in her first four races before being nipped in a photo finish in the Grade I Hollywood Starlet. - Vaughn Woodling photo.

"I got my biggest break then in 1973," he said. "I was planning on going to Argentina when Vincent Clyne, an Argentine trainer here, said, 'Don´t go.' He said he was getting horses from Mr. (Max) Gluck's Elmendorf Farm, and he needed an assistant." Not only did Perdomo become an assistant, he found himself working for a barn loaded with such major stakes winners as Text, Announcer, My Old Friend, Spout, Visible and Girl In Love.

In 1977, Clyne allowed Perdomo to begin training a few horses of his own in the barn. "I went to Argentina and bought El Victorioso, and Maxine became a partner" said Perdomo of his breakthrough horse.
"El Victorioso opened a lot of doors for me. He won a couple of allowance races; ran in the Sunset Handicap and was claimed for $62,500." Perdomo said El Victorioso enabled him in 1978 to buy the house he still lives in today in Mar Vista, about 20 minutes from Hollywood Park. He and Estella have two children: Sally 27; and Willie, 20. (Perdomo also has an older daughter Patricia, from a previous marriage in Uruguay.)

During the past 20 years, Perdomo also has trained stakes winners Tomboy Blues, Davids Smile, Musical Girl, Lovely Music, Salta´s Pride and Jetin Excess, as well as managed Walnut Wood Farm in Hemet.
Jetin Excess became one of the leading 2-year-old fillies in the nation in 2000 with victories in her first four races before being nipped in a photo finish in the Grade I Hollywood Starlet. She came out of that race with a foot injury and spent half of 2001 on the farm before Perdomo tried to return her to the races.

"She was ready to run again during opening week of the Santa Anita winter meet, but she tied-up one morning," said Perdomo with a sigh. "All the muscles cramped, and I had to stop with her again. I don´t mind giving her all the time she needs because by the end of the year she is going to be an exciting horse to watch."
Perdomo credited a veteran crew headed by foreman Salvador Paez, his sons Jose Luis an exercise rider and Raul a groom and assistant foreman Jose La Banca for the achievements of the barn, which numbers about 20 horses.

Perdomo and the crew are smiling again since the vacancy in Gourmet Girl's stall was filled by Argentine Eilly star Terna, purchased earlier this year by Tanaka. "She's 4 in this country," said Perdomo. "She won four stakes, two Group I, one Group II, one Group III, in eight starts in Argentina. She´s by Roy, the leading sire down there. She´s medium-sized, not as big as Gourmet Girl, but she has won on dirt and turf. She should be ready for her first start in this country before the end of the Hollywood Park meet this summer."
You can rest assured that Perdomo is not going to rush her.

"I feel like I have lived two lives already," said Perdomo. "The first 30 years, I lived one life, one culture. Then the next 30, 1 stop riding, start a new career and learn a new language and culture. One thing I know: if I die tomorrow, I die happy."